Nearly 300,000 teenage girls in the UK will receive a vaccine against the virus which causes killer disease cervical cancer this autumn. The Health Minister, Dawn Primarolo, made the announcement this month, which means that girls in their final year at school will join 12 and 13 year old girls across the country taking part in the scheme in September. The vaccine protects against the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus which is thought to cause around 7 in 10 of all cervical cancer cases. The disease kills around 1,000 women every year, and the government hopes that 400 lives will be saved with the introduction of the immunisation scheme. However, some people have expressed concerns however that routine smear tests will eventually be phased out.

Currently, the NHS offers smear tests to women over the age of twenty-five, every three to five years, in order to diagnose any abnormal cells developing in the cervix, but some people are worried that women will get complacent about their visits, and that doctors will not offer the test as regularly. This is concerning, especially as around a third of all cases of the cancer are not related to the virus at all. With some private medical insurance policies, women have access to full medical health checks. Alternatively, women can opt to pay for a private smear test via a private doctor and then claim on their health insurance policies to fund treatment, if needed. Even if smear tests are eventually scaled down, ther are options for those who wish to put their minds at rest.

Routine testing as it currently stands has failed some women in the UK, even before any reduction in services. At just twenty four years old, Katie Hilliard from West Sussex, has been given two years to live after being diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer. Katie was refused a smear test on the NHS twice because she was ‘too young’. Doctors and specialists are hoping that the immunisation programme may help to lessen the numbers of cases like Katie's.